I mackled my ankle on the first day of vacation

You might have noticed that I didn't  post much in June/beginning of July. June I can blame on work, as that's the busy season but the first two weeks of July I lived mainly on frozen pizza and greek yogurt.   The reason for my less than exciting food habits was that I managed to sprain my ankle at a friend's wedding on literally the first day of summer vacation, thus finding myself on crutches and in an aircast. The following is a list of things I learned from my most recent accident.

1. My dance moves are killer. Especially when you throw Macklemore on the speakers. I have since "verbed" his name to describe what happened when I sprained two ligaments. He has not responded to this addition to the English language via twitter but my hopes are high.

2. You can cab to the hospital when your friends are still out partying at the wedding.  At 6 am there will be nobody else in the emergency room in a small town and you get excellent service. Choosing an emergency contact was tricky as nobody had cell service in the aforementioned small town so I went with Mom.

3. Crutches are the new trendy accessory at the Calgary Stampede. Just tell everyone you were in the Rodeo and it was too muddy so your horse slipped. Man, it sucks to be out of the competition for the rest of the week.

4. I saved a lot on gas money while I couldn't drive. A big thank you goes out to everyone who made me supper and drove me around while I was injured.

5. Physio is really boring and expensive. But worth it so go.

I'm now back to 100% and catching up with some recipes I wanted to try. Hope everyone else is having a wonderful and safe summer!

Asparagus Soup

Tonight I had my first accident in a while. My blender is no longer in working order. The sacrifice might have been worth it as this soup is surprisingly delicious. Asparagus is a great spring vegetable and this is a way to give it new life after you've steamed it to hell. The lemon juice gives it a really nice cut. Recipe is courtesy of my dad, Steve, from somewhere he can't remember as he approaches old age.

Serves probably 4. I lost some in the blender accident. Takes about 40 minutes to cook.

1 Tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 leek, sliced thinly
1 1/2 lb of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 4 cm pieces
1/4 tsp pepper
1 litre vegetable or chicken broth
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook shallots and garlic until shallots are tender, about 3 minutes.  Add leek; stirring until soft, about 6 minutes.

Stir in asparagus, cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, until asparagus is tender.

Puree in blender; return to saucepan and add cream and lemon juice. Heat and serve.

Accidents While Jet-lagged

Yesterday I flew back home from the holidays. The time difference between my two homes is only three hours but couple that with a flight that leaves the East Coast at 6 am and I usually end up a bit zombified by night time. I thought since I had slept two hours on the plane I could skip my usual nap but that left me with burnt sweet potato fries (tossed with cumin), an argument with my smoke detector and about a litre of water on the kitchen counter. Suffice to say, no posts are going up as a result of that disastrous meal but I will attempt it again soon with more shut eye under my belt.

Stay tuned for baked asparagus with a soy/balsamic sauce, cumin-spiced sweet potato fries, and orange-glazed chicken thighs. While they were all delicious they were a bit too haggard to photograph and recommend.

Christmas Eve Mussels and Sausage Simmer

This recipe comes courtesy of Canadian Living with adjustments by my father, Steve Heard. I'm home for the holidays and my number one request is seafood seafood seafood!  Sidebar: I spilled red wine on myself while typing this and set fire to toast in the microwave so...accident #2 and #3!

Serves 8

1 Tbsp dry mustard
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 lb hot Italian sausage or chorizo, cut into chunks (Spolumbo's in Calgary is the best for gluten-free but we found some at Sobey's in Nova Scotia)
2 red onions, chopped
4 cloves garlice, minced
1 Tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 cup tomato juice
3/4 cup red wine (or more winky face)
2 1/2 pounds mussels (normally for a meal, you want 1 pound per person, so feel free to increase)
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Fill your kitchen sink half-full with cold water. Pour the dry mustard into the cold water. Add the mussels and let them sit for 15 minutes. Dad says it irritates the mussels so they pump the water through themselves and it flushes out any dirt.

Dad likes to boil the sausages for 7 minutes before he follows the rest of the recipe. He says it makes them easier to cut and gets some of the fat out.

In Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat; brown sausage in batches. Transfer to plate. Drain fat from pan. Turn the heat down to medium or low-medium. Add red onions, garlic, paprika and hot pepper flakes; cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Pour in tomato juice and wine; bring to a boil. Return sausage to pan and add mussels and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover and simmer for 12  minutes or until they have mostly all opened. Stir them around half way.

Don't serve any mussels that didn't open in the cooking. Serve with french bread (if you aren't a celiac like me) and red wine!

Butterlicious Gluten-free Cupcakes

Ok so this is mostly based on a mix recipe. But I made a wonderous discovery that is true to this blog's name. I accidentally doubled the butter in the recipe tonight but decided to cook them anyway because I have two beliefs in food: 1. bacon makes everything better and  2. butter is basically liquid bacon.

So with no further ado, here is my new and improved gluten-free cupcake recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker's box.

1 Betty Crocker gluten-free Devil's Food Cake mix. (425g)
1 cup of water
3 eggs
1 cup of softened butter (recipe calls for a half but...)


Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine the mix, water, eggs and butter. Beat on low speed for one minute and then increase to medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour into cupcake liners. Bake for 18-24 minutes. Stick with a toothpick and they are ready when the pick comes out clean.

My friend, Jessie, came over tonight to help me ice them and we taste tested the regular butter and extra butter batches. She's a non-celiac and affirmed that the extra butter made them taste close to normal. And yes, I am well aware of the fact that a cup of butter is the opposite of healthy but considering how little baking I now eat being celiac, I figure one batch of cupcakes that actually taste good won't kill me.

Accident #1

So yeah, this happened tonight. Mental note: don't leave a glass pan full of juices on top of an element that is still on.

Good thing these 8x8 pans were on sale at Superstore last time I went. I stocked up knowing myself all too well. In fact, the whole reason I own a dustpan and broom is because within my first month living in Calgary I did this exact same thing and the pan exploded. It was before I owned a vacuum and I had to walk to Safeway to buy a dustpan before I could clean it up.

I'm totally improving. At least this time it didn't explode.